PAPRSB Institute of Health Sciences hosted the 8th ASEAN Medical Deans’ Summit in August 2019, but COVID-19 meant the planned 9th AMDS in Vietnam was replaced by a 2 day virtual conference on 11th and 12thSeptember which was hosted online by the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, University of Mahidol, Bangkok,Thailand. The theme was COVID-19: Challenge and Lessons Learned with a focus on Education(https://amsn.sirirajlive.com) and covered 4 topics: Overview of digital transformation, lessons learned fromthe pandemic, Online teaching and learning, Knowledge assessment and Clinical skills development andassessment. The online format meant that more universities and participants could attend (over 50/session)and this virtual conference was a collaboration between 20 Medical Schools in the ASEAN region and China.Associate Professor Dr Anne Cunningham was nominated as one of the Plenary Speakers and contributed totopic 2 (knowledge assessment). The online lectures are still available from the website above (click on re:runvdo). Her presentation covered the conversion from physical to online closed book examination and the use ofcanvas combined with zoom invigilation. Like everywhere else, the faculty had to rapidly upskill our blended /online learning pedagogy. The logistics worked well and all online exams were successfully taken by allstudents. Invigilation was effective but time consuming. The exam process was accepted by the University andour partners. Student feedback indicated that the home environment was not ideal, there was backgroundnoise from zoom, typing was different from writing (slower), and it was more difficult to go back to earlierquestions online. Ultimately more supplementary examinations were needed, which were held as physicalexams.There was a lot of opportunity for discussion and shared learning on our common challenges and the ‘newnormal’. In particular, the benefits of sharing resources (virtual libraries, online pathology museum), andbuilding online collaborations including virtual reality, augmented reality, simulation and interprofessionaleducation.It was clear that it is the design of the online learning (pedagogy) and not the technology that was important.Online learning provides opportunity to target and personalize learning to our students (adaptive learning).Many partners reported the difficulties experienced by medical students, so there is need to build socialsupport and resilience. This experience means we can continue with a series of webinars to build communitiesfor future educational and research collaborations. Our community has learned to be flexible and adapt tothe changed circumstances.Our students also held a virtual ASEAN Students’ Collaborative Project (ASCP) and reported back to the BoardMeeting on their positive experiences and learning.B E Y O N D | O C T . T O D E C . 2 0 2 0 | I S S U E 2 2 4C O N D U C T I N G S U M M A T I V E A S S E S S M E N T I NT H E M I D S T O F T H E C O V I D - 1 9 P A N D E M I CDr. Anne Cunningham, Associate ProfessorLeft: Dr. Anne Cunningham discussing the efficient transformation of physical to online academic assessment in IHSduring the pandemic at the 8th AMDS online conference. Right: Examination invigilation successfully conducted onlinevia Zoom.
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